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The last time Ovince St. Preux (23-12) stepped inside the Octagon with Nikita Krylov (24-6), he forced a tapout by way of his signature Von Flue choke. But a lot has changed since then. St. Preux had challenged for the interim title and Krylov had authored two impressive winning streaks.
The two crafty light heavyweights will go to war once again on the main card of UFC 236 Saturday, April 13. Ahead of that confrontation, deliberate on the odds with the numbers you’ll encounter below.
Wins by stoppage
St. Preux prides of a high finishing rate, having stopped 18 of the 23 opponents he defeated. He has 11 wins by knockout, the most prominent of which is his 0:34 demolition of Mauricio Rua in the main event of UFC Fight Night 56. Prior to his Strikeforce and Ultimate Fighting Championship stints, St. Preux made heads turn when he knocked out Jason Day in only 0:08 at an event called EFC 5: Summer Rumble. As for Krylov, there really isn’t much computation involved as all 24 of his victories came by stoppage with 10 by knockout and 14 by submission.
UFC defeats
Krylov is a 10-fight UFC veteran who has lost four times. Apart from his submission loss to St. Preux, he was tapped out by Misha Cirkunov and Jan Błachowicz, and was knocked out in his promotional debut by Soa Palelei. St. Preux has been with the UFC for longer and has lost 7 times in 18 bouts. “OSP” fell prey to Ryan Bader, Glover Teixeira, Jon Jones, Jimi Manuwa, Vokan Oezdemir, Ilir Latifi and Dominick Reyes.
First-round finishes
With his first 12 professional fights ending inside the first round, Krylov owns one of the most phenomenal starts to any mixed martial arts career. What makes it even more impressive is the fact that it all happened in a span of five months, from July 27 to Dec. 22, 2012. He would go 2-2 in his next four fights before he was signed by the UFC, where he raked in four more first-round stoppages. He also had two in Russian promotion Fight Nights Global. Equally astounding is St. Preux’s record of 14 finishes inside round one. Other than Rua, his other prominent victims include Yushin Okami, Gian Villante and Corey Anderson.
First meeting
Their first fight, which happened at UFC 171, ended early with St Preux getting his hand raised. The end came at 1:29 of the first round after “OSP” locked in a Von Flue choke, earning for himself his first Performance of the Night bonus. It also marked the first of three Von Flue chokes he would win by in MMA competition.
Performance of the Night awards
Krylov has yet to earn a single post-fight bonus in the UFC but this doesn’t reflect his exciting fighting style. As aforementioned, none of his 24 career victories came by decision. St. Preux, on the other hand, has garnered five Performance of the Night citations at the expense of Krylov, Rua, Okami, Anderson and Pedro.